LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan, (left) and Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, (right) welcome U.S. Army veteran Jim Schimmel of Shepherd and his wife Fran to the Michigan Capitol. The senators awarded Schimmel with a Vietnam War Commemorative Lapel Pin on Tuesday in recognition of his service during the Vietnam War era.

Schimmel enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1963. He completed basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and cook and bakers’ school at Fort Lee, Virginia. Schimmel was then deployed to Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon, Vietnam in 1964. While in Vietnam, Schimmel was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

He was returned to the U.S. in 1965 following the death of his mother and stationed at the Percy Jones Hospital in Battle Creek until his honorable discharge in 1966. In 2002, Schimmel retired from the Department of Corrections, after serving for many years as a prisoner cook supervisor.